FreeHold Estates
What does alienation mean in property law, and do the Courts like it when it is restrained?
Alienation is the right to sell, gift, or convey your property, and the courts do not like restraints on alienation.
What is a dominant estate, and what is a servient estate?
The dominant estate is the property benefiting from the easement, and the servient estate is the land with the burden of the easement.
How can you acquire the right to a viewshed?
Through a contract or easement but it is not an inherent right.
What is the difference between a Realtor and a Real Estate Agent?
A realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) while a Real Estate Agent is not.
What is the purpose of recording your deed?
By recording your deed, you are putting the world on notice that you own this particular parcel of property.
What is an "Enhanced Life Estate" and what is a "Life Estate Pur Autre Vie"?
An "Enhanced Life Estate" allows the grantor to be the life tenant, also known as a "lady bird deed" and "Life Estate Pour Autre Vie," allowing the life at issue to be someone other than the tenant.
What easement cannot be transferred?
An easement in gross cannot be transferred because it is personal unlike an appurtenant easement that runs with the land.
A coastal state sells a large portion of its beachfront, including submerged tidal lands, to a private corporation. The corporation builds fences that prevent the public from accessing the beach for fishing and recreation. Residents sue.
What legal doctrine would residents most likely rely on, and why?
Residents would rely on the Public Trust Doctrine because the state holds navigable waters, submerged lands, and often tidal shorelines in trust for the public.
What are the three types of listing agreements?
1. Exclusive Right to Sell Listing: Only the listed broker/agent has the right to commission.
2. Exclusive Agency Listing: No other broker/agent should assist in the sale of the property. BUT, the property owner can sell it themselves.
3. Open Listing: Whichever broker/agency sells the property receives the commission.
What are the four unities to create a joint tenancy?
1. Unity of Interest
2. Unity of Time
3. Unity of Possession
4. Unity of Title
What are the four types of Fee Simple Defeasibles, and briefly explain how to identify each one
1. Fee Simple Subject to Condition Subsequent: Language shows a warning. "But if", "Provided that", "However", "On condition that".
2. Fee Simple Determinable: Language shows a time period. "As long as", "while", "so long as", "until", "during".
3. Fee Simple Subject to Condition Precedent: A pre-condition.
4. Fee Simple Subject to an Executory Interest: A third-party may take the property before the normal expiration. (THIS IS A RUDE INTEREST)
What are the three types of easements that are judicially granted/created?
1. Easement by Necessity
2. Implied Easement
3. Prescriptive Easements
After years of conflict, Dana builds a 7-foot privacy fence on her property line that blocks Sam’s lake view. Dana admits she partly erected the fence to annoy Sam but also wanted privacy and noise reduction. Sam sues, claiming the fence is a ‘spite fence’ and a private nuisance. Under common law and modern approaches, can Sam recover for nuisance?
No. A landowner may not recover for a ‘spite fence’ if the structure serves a useful or legitimate purpose, even if motivated partly by malice.
Give me the common types of deeds in order from the most powerful to the weakest.
1. General Warranty Deed
2. Special Warranty Deed
3. Quitclaim Deed
What are the three types of remainders/things the RAP applies to?
1. Contingent Reminders
2. Option Contracts
3. Executory Interests
Does a reversionary interest expire?
No, even if the grantor dies his reversion interest does not expire.
Alice owns a parcel of land known as Greenacre. She grants her neighbor, Ben, a written easement to use her private road on Greenacre to access the public highway. The instrument states: “Grantor gives Grantee, his heirs and assigns, a perpetual right of way over the paved drive on Greenacre.” Later, Ben sells his property (Blueacre) to Carol but does not mention the easement in the deed. Carol begins using the road to access the highway. Alice objects, arguing that the easement terminated when Ben sold his property.
Question:
What is the likely result?
A. The easement terminated upon the sale to Carol because Ben did not mention it in the deed.
B. The easement remains appurtenant to Blueacre and automatically transferred to Carol.
C. The easement was personal to Ben and therefore cannot transfer.
D. The easement remains valid only if Carol obtains a new written grant from Alice.
Correct Answer: B.
Application: The language “heirs and assigns” and “perpetual right of way” indicate the grantor’s intent to create an easement appurtenant that benefits the owner of Blueacre, not just Ben personally. Therefore, when Ben conveyed Blueacre to Carol, the easement automatically transferred, regardless of omission from the deed.
What water doctrine does Florida use, and what rule do they use?
Florida follows the Riparian Right Doctrine.
Florida has adopted a modified Reasonable Use Rule, which includes elements of the Civil Law Rule: An upper landowner has an easement across the lower tract for the natural flow of all naturally occurring surface water. However, if either an upper or lower landowner alters their land in such a way which causes surface waters to damage a neighbor's property, the Reasonable Use Rule shall apply.
What are the two reasons you should record a deed?
1. Nobody can claim they didn't have notice.
2. Establishes our priority in our chain of title.
When you cannot agree on how to split a home, what type of action will the Court suggest?
A partition action.
What are the future interests of all of the freehold estates for the grantor?
1. Fee Simple Absolute
2. Fee Simple Condition Subsequent
3. Fee Simple Determinable
4. Fee Simple Condition Precedent
5. Fee Simple Executory Interest
6. Life Estate
1. Reverter
2. Right of Entry
3. Possibility of Reverter
4. None
6. None
7. Reverter
What is the difference between a license and an easement?
An easement is an interest or right of use over the property of another.
A license, on the other hand, only gives permission to do a particular act or series of acts on another's property. It
A landowner owns property along a river in a humid eastern state. During a drought, she continues to withdraw water for irrigation, as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with other landowners’ use of the same river. Her right to use the water is based primarily on:
A. The Rule of Capture
B. Prior Appropriation
C. Riparian Rights
D. Civil Law Rule
C. Riparian Rights
Under the riparian rights system (common in humid eastern U.S. states), water rights are tied to land that borders a water source. Landowners may make reasonable use of the water as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with other riparian landowners’ rights.
What makes a deed effective?
Deed To Be Effective:
It has to contain all of the necessary elements.
It has to be delivered and accepted by the grantee.
It has to be in writing!
Owen conveys his farm “to Paula for life, then to Paula’s grandchildren who reach the age of 25.” At the time of the conveyance, Paula has one child, Alex, age 30, and no grandchildren. Under the common law Rule Against Perpetuities, which of the following best describes the status of the gift to Paula’s grandchildren?
A. The remainder is valid because any grandchild must be born within Paula’s lifetime.
B. The remainder is invalid because it might vest beyond 21 years after all lives in being at the creation of the interest.
C. The remainder is valid because grandchildren are considered measuring lives under the rule.
D. The remainder is valid because the Rule Against Perpetuities applies only to executory interests.
Correct Answer: (B) – The gift is void under the common law Rule Against Perpetuities.
Reasoning:
Under the common law Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP), no future interest is valid unless it must vest, if at all, not later than twenty-one years after some life in being at the creation of the interest. Duke of Norfolk's Case, 3 Ch. Cas. 1 (1682). The RAP applies to contingent future interests—such as executory interests or contingent remainders—that depend on uncertain future events.